Immortality: How Science Is Extending Your Life Span--and Changing The World
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
The first immortals are already living among us. You might be one of them.
That arresting statement sounds as if it might come from a science fiction story. But it is astonishing, exciting fact--as explained by Dr. Ben Bova. In his distinguished career, Dr. Bova has predicted many scientific developments. Now he explores the future effects of science and technology on the human life span and discovers that one day, death will no longer be the inevitable end of life.
Dr. Bova guides readers through worldwide research into the biochemical processes that causes aging and death, and shows what scientists are discovering about stopping, perhaps even reversing them. With crystal-clear prose, Dr. Bova explains how science could maintain the youth and vigor of a fifty-year-old indefinitely and the consequences for marriage and family ties. He also offers provocative thoughts on the tumultuous societal consequences of such biomedical breakthroughs, as greatly extended life spans and virtual immortality transform institutions like Medicare, Social Security, pension plans, life insurance, even the very foundations of work and retirement. Here is a compelling, startling, understandable, and vitally important study of humankind's greatest challenge — and most tantalizing opportunity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The quest for human immortality is ongoing in science labs around the world, and the possibility is now closer to science fact than fiction, claims Bova, who as a veteran and prolific author of science books (Space Travel, etc.) and SF (Moonwar, etc.) might know. Bova admits that few scientists would agree with that claim but that scientists "are usually not the best predictors of their own futures." Again Bova lives up to his reputation of writing straightforward, understandable prose to explain recent scientific advances. We are entering the fourth era of medicine, he observes, one in which science is working on solving the riddle of aging. He leads readers through a tautological compendium of the mechanics of cellular life and death. Why do certain bacteria and cancer cells apparently live forever, when those trillions that make up the human body are subject to senescence and death? Is aging caused by entropy, the genetic damage that accumulates daily until our genes are unable to repair themselves? Or is it a by-product of the progressive shortening of the telomeres that cap each chromosome? Bova subscribes to the telomeric explanation, believing that the issue may be resolved by selectively injecting telomerase analogs into certain types of cells to prohibit them from aging. Over the decades, many of Bova's scientific predictions have come true: the space race of the 1960s, solar-powered satellites, virtual reality, the discovery of water ice on the moon and even electronic book publishing. The promise of immortality based on scientific advancement is his most ambitious prophecy and, judging from the passion he bestows on it in this routine book about an outlandish subject, his most ardent hope.
